as Scotland fought out a highly-credible 1-1 draw with
heavily-fancied Croatia.
This may officially have been classified as a
friendly, but it was certainly competitive enough with
no fewer than seven yellow cards dished out by
Norwegian Referee Terje Haute.
There was a disappointing attendance of just 28,821
spectators in the old Mount Florida ground as a Scots
team that had Kris Boyd, as the only Ranger, in his
customary role on the substitute's bench whilst former
Ibrox man Alan Hutton was in the starting line-up.
Croatia had eliminated England en route to EURO 2008
in Austria & Switzerland, and they were comfortable in
possession in the opening stages with the bulk of the
pressure.
The opening goal arrived in nineteen minutes when Nico
Kranjcar scored with a snap-shot from the edge of the
box that appeared to take Craig Gordon by surprise.
The home side levelled the scores on the half-hour
when Kenny Miller - his pace taking him clear of the
Croatian defence, netted with the aid of a deflection
from a delightful Steven Fletcher pass.
The first yellow card of the evening was shown to
Celtic's Scott Brown in 42 minutes for a foul on
Mladen Petric. No doubt that booking, like the
previous thirteen dished out to the midfielder this
season, was wholly unjustified.
The resultant free-kick saw Darijo Srna's 22-yard
effort held by Gordon.
Former Ranger Gavin Rae replaced Steven Fletcher at
the interval.
Miller was denied a second goal five minutes after the
restart when his near-post header from a Shaun Maloney
corner was headed off the line by Danijel Pranjic.
The Croatians remained the more dangerous however -
Ivika Olic's twenty-yard grounder being blocked by
Gordon in 55 minutes.
Midway through the second-half, as the Balkans side
exerted a sustained period of pressure, a superb pass
from Ivan Klasnic of Werder Bremen released Igor Budan
through on goal only for the Parma forward to see his
drive deflected over the bar by Gordon.
Boyd replaced Maloney in 71 minutes and the Ibrox
striker almost snatched an unlikely winner twelve
minutes later when, as Scotland were aiming to hit
their opponents on the break, he saw his shot
deflected wide by Croatian goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa
following a trademark surging run from Alan Hutton who
cleverly laid the ball off into the path of his former
colleague.
The visitors finished the game on top, with substitute
Jerko Leko of Monaco seeing his 25-yards shot held by
Gordon.
A 1-1 draw was nevertheless a credible start for
George Burley and afterwards the Scotland boss
reflected:
"It was a very competitive game. Croatia are one of
the top sides in Europe with excellent movement. I was
pleased wth our commitment. It's important to keep the
momentum going after the last campaign. You need to
learn something from each game and keep working. It's
an honour to be Scotland Manager."
Burley also paid tribute to former Ranger Alan Hutton:
"Alan Hutton is one of the best full-backs in Europe
going forward."
SCOTLAND Gordon (Sunderland); Hutton (Tottenham
Hotspur), Naysmith (Sheffield United) [McEveley (Derby
County) 61]; Caldwell (Celtic) [Anderson (Plymouth
Argyle) 69], McManus (Celtic), Hartley (Celtic); D.
Fletcher (Manchester United)[ G. Alexander (Burnley)
89], Brown (Celtic) [Teale (Plymouth Argyle) 65],
Miller (Derby County), Maloney (Aston Villa) [Boyd
(Rangers) 71], S. Fletcher (Hibernian) [Rae (Cardiff
City) 45]
UNUSED SUBS Marshall (Norwich City), Berra (Hearts),
O'Connor (Birmingham City)
CROATIA Pletikosa (Spartak Moscow); Corluka
(Manchester City) [Simic (AC Milan) 83], Simunic
(Hertha Berlin), R. Kovac (Borussia Dortmund)
[Knezevic (Livorno) 72], Pranjic (Heerenveen); Srna
(Shakhtar Donetsk) [Leko (Monaco) 62], N. Kovac (Red
Bull Salzburg) [Vukojevic (Dinamo Zagreb) 45], Modric
(Dinamo Zagreb), Kranjcar (Portsmouth); Olic (Hamburg)
[Budan (Parma) 56], Petric (Borussia Dortmund)
[Klasnic (Werder Bremen) 56]
UNUSED SUBS Galinovic (Panathinaikos)
REFEREE Terje Hauge (Norway)
Attendance 28,821